Send the Gift of Lifelong Learning!

Books That Have Made History: Books That Can Change Your Life

Gifting Information

Frequently Asked Questions

With an eGift, you can instantly send a Great Course to a friend or loved one via email. It's simple:

Find the course you would like to eGift.

Under “Choose a Format,” click on Video Download or Audio Download.

Click ‘Send e-Gift’

Fill out the details on the next page. You will need the email address of your friend or family member.

Proceed with the checkout process as usual.

Once you have paid for your order, your friend or loved one will receive an email letting them know that they have a gift waiting for them at TheGreatCourses.com. That gift will be added to their My Digital Library when they log in and click to redeem it.

Why do I need to specify the email of the recipient?

We will send that person an email to notify them of your gift.

If they are already a customer, they will be able to add the gift to their My Digital Library and mobile apps.

If they are not yet a customer, we will help them set up a new account so they can enjoy their course in their My Digital Library or via our free mobile apps.

How will my friend or family member know they have a gift?

They will receive an email from The Great Courses notifying them of your eGift. The email will direct them to TheGreatCourses.com.

What if my friend or family member does not receive the email?

If the email notification is missing, first check their Spam folder. Depending on your email provider, it may have mistakenly been flagged as spam. If it is not found, please email customer service at (customerservice@thegreatcourses.com) or call 1-800-832-2412 for assistance.

How will I know they have received my eGift?

When the recipient clicks on their email and redeems their eGift, you will automatically receive an email notification.

I don’t want to send downloads. How do I gift DVDs or CDs?

eGifting only covers digital products. To purchase a DVD or CD version of a course and mail it to a friend, please call customer service at 1-800-832-2412 for assistance. Physical gifting can still be achieved online – can we describe that here and not point folks to call?

Oops! The recipient already owns the course I gifted. What now?

Great minds think alike! We can exchange the eGifted course for another course of equal value. Please call customer service at 1-800-832-2412 for assistance.

Can I select a date in the future to send my eGift?

Sorry, this feature is not available yet. We are working on adding it in the future.

What if the email associated with eGift is not for my regular Great Course account?

Please email customer service at (customerservice@thegreatcourses.com) or call our customer service team at 1-800-832-2412 for assistance. They have the ability to update the email address.

When purchasing a gift for someone, why do I have to create an account?

This is done for two reasons. One is so you can track the purchase of the order in your ‘order history’ section as well as being able to let our customer service team track your purchase and the person who received it if the need arises.

Can I return or Exchange a gift after I purchase it?

Because the gift is sent immediately, it cannot be returned or exchanged by the person giving the gift. The recipient can exchange the gift for another course of equal or lesser value, or pay the difference on a more expensive item

Frequently Asked Questions

With an eGift, you can instantly send a Great Course to a friend or loved one via email. It's simple:
1. Find the course you would like to eGift.
2. Under "Choose a Format", click on Video Download or Audio Download.
3. Click 'Send e-Gift'
4. Fill out the details on the next page. You will need to the email address of your friend or family member.
5. Proceed with the checkout process as usual.

Q: Why do I need to specify the email of the recipient?

A:
We will send that person an email to notify them of your gift. If they are already a customer, they will be able to add the gift to their My Digital Library and mobile apps. If they are not yet a customer, we will help them set up a new account so they can enjoy their course in their My Digital Library or via our free mobile apps.

Q: How will my friend or family member know they have a gift?

A:
They will receive an email from The Great Courses notifying them of your eGift. The email will direct them to TheGreatCourses.com. If they are already a customer, they will be able to add the gift to their My Digital Library and mobile apps. If they are not yet a customer, we will help them set up a new account so they can enjoy their course in their My Digital Library or via our free mobile apps.

Q: What if my friend or family member does not receive the email?

A:
If the email notification is missing, first check your Spam folder. Depending on your email provider, it may have mistakenly been flagged as spam. If it is not found, please email customer service at (customerservice@thegreatcourses.com) or call 1-800-832-2412 for assistance.

Q: How will I know they have received my eGift?

A:
When the recipient clicks on their email and redeems their eGift, you will automatically receive an email notification.

Q: What if I do not receive the notification that the eGift has been redeemed?

A:
If the email notification is missing, first check your Spam folder. Depending on your email provider, it may have mistakenly been flagged as spam. If it is not found, please email customer service at (customerservice@thegreatcourses.com) or call customer service at 1-800-832-2412 for assistance.

Q: I don't want to send downloads. How do I gift DVDs or CDs?

A:
eGifting only covers digital products. To purchase a DVD or CD version of a course and mail it to a friend, please call customer service at 1-800-832-2412 for assistance. Physical gifting can still be achieved online – can we describe that here and not point folks to call?

Q: Oops! The recipient already owns the course I gifted. What now?

A:
Great minds think alike! We can exchange the eGifted course for another course of equal value. Please call customer service at 1-800-832-2412 for assistance.

Q: Can I update or change my email address?

A:
Yes, you can. Go to My Account to change your email address.

Q: Can I select a date in the future to send my eGift?

A:
Sorry, this feature is not available yet. We are working on adding it in the future.

Q: What if the email associated with eGift is not for my regular Great Course account?

A:
Please please email customer service at (customerservice@thegreatcourses.com) or call our customer service team at 1-800-832-2412 for assistance. They have the ability to update the email address so you can put in your correct account.

Q: When purchasing a gift for someone, why do I have to create an account?

A:
This is done for two reasons. One is so you can track the purchase of the order in your ‘order history’ section as well as being able to let our customer service team track your purchase and the person who received it if the need arises.

Q: Can I return or Exchange a gift after I purchase it?

A:
Because the gift is sent immediately, it cannot be returned or exchanged by the person giving the gift. The recipient can exchange the gift for another course of equal or lesser value, or pay the difference on a more expensive item

What are priority codes?

Priority Codes are on the back of the catalog, mail promotion, or within an advertisement. To ensure that the pricing on the website is the same as what is in your catalog or advertisement, please enter the priority code provided.

What are priority codes?

Priority Codes are on the back of the catalog, mail promotion, or within an advertisement. To ensure that the pricing on the website is the same as what is in your catalog or advertisement, please enter the priority code provided.

Terms and Conditions

Acceptance of Terms and Conditions

Welcome to The Great Courses. The following Terms and Conditions,
which include our Privacy Policy, apply when you view or use the web
site
www.thegreatcourses.com and all websites associated with the
thegreatcourses.com domain (our “Site”), whether as a guest or as a
registered user. These
Terms and Conditions also govern the supply of any of the products
listed on our Site to you, including all features and functionalities,
instant
streaming, our website and user interfaces, and all content
associated therewith (the “Products and Services”). By using,
visiting, or browsing the Site,
or by ordering any of our Products and Services, you accept and
agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.

Changes to Terms and Conditions

The Teaching Company, LLC (the “Company” or “we”) reserves the
right, from time to time, with or without notice to you, to change
these Terms and
Conditions, including the Privacy Policy, in our sole and absolute
discretion. It is your sole responsibility to check the Site from time
to time to view
any such changes to these Terms. You will be deemed to have
accepted such changes by continuing to use the Site. The most current
version of these Terms
and Conditions can be reviewed by visiting our website and
clicking on “Terms and Conditions” located at the bottom of the pages
of the Site. The most
current version of the Terms and Conditions will supersede all
previous versions.

Information about Us

Our Site is a web site operated by The Teaching Company, LLC, 4840
Westfields Blvd., Suite 500, Chantilly, VA 20151-2299 (under the
trading name of The
Great Courses). If you would like information on how to contact
us, click Contact Us.

Accessing Our Site

Access to our Site is permitted on a temporary basis, and we
reserve the right to withdraw or amend the service we provide on our
Site without notice. We
will not be liable if for any reason our Site is unavailable at
any time or for any period. From time to time, we may restrict access
to some parts of our
Site, or our entire Site. We have the right to terminate your
access to the Site if we determine that you have failed to comply with
any of the provisions
of these Terms and Conditions. You are solely responsible for
keeping confidential any password you may be granted to access our
Site. We advise you not to
share your password, payment methods or any other information
associated with our Site or your account with anyone.

Use of Our Site

By accessing our Site you agree to use our Site, including all
features and functionalities associated therewith and all content and
software associated
therewith, in accordance with all applicable laws, rules and
regulations, including public performance limitations or other
restrictions on use of the
service or content therein. In addition, the following
restrictions apply to your use of our Site:

(a) You shall not to upload, post, e-mail or otherwise send or
transmit any material that contains software viruses or any other
computer code, files or
programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality
of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment
associated with our
Site;

(b) You shall not to interfere with the servers or networks
connected to any portions of our Site or to violate any of the
procedures, policies or
regulations of networks connected to our Site;

(c) You shall not to impersonate any other person while using our
Site, conduct yourself in a vulgar or offensive manner while using our
Site, or use our
Site for any unlawful purpose;

(d) You shall not attempt to gain unauthorized access to our Site,
the server on which our Site is stored or any server, computer, or
database connected to
our Site;

(e) You shall not use our Site in any way that is unlawful or
fraudulent, or has any unlawful or fraudulent purpose or effect;

(f) You shall not use our Site to send, knowingly receive, upload,
download, use or reuse any material which does not comply with all
relevant provisions
of these Terms and Conditions;

(g) You shall not use our Site to transmit, or procure the sending
of, any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising or promotional
material or any other
form of similar solicitation (spam); or

(h) You shall not use our Site to knowingly transmit any data;
send or upload any material that contains viruses, Trojan horses,
worms, time-bombs,
keystroke loggers, spyware, adware, or any other malicious or
harmful programs or similar computer code designed to attack our Site
(via a
denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service
attack); or otherwise adversely affect the operation of any computer
software or hardware.

Use of Our Streaming Service

We provide streaming Products and Services and non-streaming
digital downloads over the internet to certain devices (streaming and
non-streaming digital
downloads are hereinafter collectively referred to as “Streaming
Service”). Currently, Streaming Service is only available on computers
and certain iPadÂ®
devices. We reserve the right in our sole and absolute discretion
to make changes from time to time and without notice in how we operate
Streaming Service.
Any description of how Streaming Service works should not be
considered a representation or obligation with respect to how the
service will always work. We
are constantly making adjustments to Streaming Service and often
these adjustments are not completely captured within these Terms and
Conditions.

(a) Availability of Streaming Service:

The availability of Streaming Service will change from time to
time, and from country to country. The quality of Streaming Services
may vary from computer
to computer, and device to device, and may be affected by a
variety of factors, such as your location, the bandwidth available
through and/or speed of your
internet connection. We will stream a small amount of data to your
device as a buffer each time you start Streaming Service. Frequently
starting and
stopping Streaming Service will result in a minor increase to the
amount of data the Company streams to you per hour. You are
responsible for ensuring that
you have internet access and for all internet access charges.
Please check with your internet provider for information on possible
Internet data usage
charges. The Company makes no representations or warranties about
the quality of Streaming Service.

Streaming Service may be unavailable to you from time to time in
connection with maintenance or for other technical or non-technical
reasons, and, as a
result, without prior notice to you, some or all Products or
Services ordinarily available via Streaming Service may cease to be
available.

(b) Initiation of Streaming Service:

The amount of time it takes to initiate Streaming Service on a
device will vary based on a number of factors, including your
location, available bandwidth
at the time, the particular Product or Service you have selected
and the configuration of your device. In addition, you must be
connected to the internet
throughout the period in which you are accessing Streaming
Service.

(c) Geographic Limitations:

You may access Streaming Service only in geographic locations
where we offer Streaming Service. In addition, the content that may be
available to watch may
vary by geographic location.

(d) Software for Accessing Streaming Service:

Streaming service software is licensed to the company and is
designed to enable streaming of content from the company to certain
devices. This software is
licensed to you by the company pursuant to these terms and
conditions and solely for the purpose of using streaming service and
for no other purpose
whatsoever. We do not warrant the performance of this software,
including its continuing compatibility with our service. You may not
copy or reproduce the
software nor may you decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble,
modify or creative derivative works of any of the software, or any
portion thereof. Any
unauthorized use of the software is strictly prohibited and the
company reserves the right to not provide the

By using streaming service, you acknowledge and agree to receive,
without further notice or prompting, updated versions of the software
related to the
streaming service. If you do not accept the foregoing terms, do
not use the streaming service. We do not warrant that any of the
software used and or
licensed in connection with streaming service will be compatible
with other third party software nor do we warrant that operation of
streaming service and
the associated software will not damage or disrupt other software
or hardware. In addition, we do not take responsibility or otherwise
warrant the
performance of devices used in connection with streaming service,
including the continuing compatibility of the device with our service.
By using streaming
service, you agree to look solely to the entity that manufactured
and/or sold you the device for any issues related to the device and
its compatibility
with streaming service. Any issues related to streaming service,
including any system requirements, are covered and limited by these
terms and conditions.

User Created Content

We permit you to post or send to us comments, information, ideas,
concepts, reviews, or techniques and other material relating to
Products and Services
(each a “Response”).

(a) Restrictions on Response Content

You are not permitted to post Responses that contain: harsh,
profane or discriminatory language; illegal, obscene, threatening,
defamatory or otherwise
objectionable content; URLs, phone numbers, mailing or e-mail
addresses, other personal information; misleading information
regarding the origin of the
Response; or a discussion of the Company’s policies or services.
We do not regularly review the Responses posted on our Site; however,
we reserve the right
to reject, remove or edit any such Responses at any time without
notice to you. You understand and agree that we may, but are not
obligated to, review
Responses and may delete or remove them (without notice to you) in
our sole and absolute discretion, for any reason or no reason. In
addition, we may use
Responses for the purposes set forth under the “Use of Responses:
License Grant” section below.

(b) Use of Responses: License Grant

The Company is free to use any comments, information, ideas,
concepts, reviews, or techniques or any other material contained in
any communication you may
send to us (each a “Response”), without further compensation,
acknowledgement or payment to you for any purpose whatsoever
including, but not limited to,
developing, manufacturing and marketing products and creating,
modifying or improving the Site or the Products and Services.
Furthermore, by posting any
Response on our site, submitting a Response to us, or in
responding to questionnaires, you grant us a perpetual, worldwide,
non-exclusive, royalty-free
irrevocable license, including the right to sublicense such right,
and right to display, use, reproduce or modify the Response submitted
in any media,
software or technology of any kind now existing or developed in
the future.

By submitting a response, you understand and agree that you are
consenting to the release of all information provided in your
response, including your
rating of a product or service, to a public forum, including other
users of our site. If you do not want your responses to be shared in a
public forum, do
not use the response feature on our site.

Privacy

Please review our Privacy Policy, which also governs your visit
to, and any orders from, our Site, to understand our practices in
relation to any personal
information you provide.

Consent to Cross-border Transfers

You acknowledge that the data collected via our Site will be
stored in servers located within the United States. Further, you
acknowledge that your
personal information may, at times, be accessible by individuals
may be located worldwide including in countries that may have not been
determined to
provide the same level of data protection as in your country. By
providing us with your personal information, you agree and consent to
our use of such data
and/or personal information in accordance with our Site privacy
policy, including, without limitation, the transfer of your personal
information across
international boundaries.

Linking to and Links from Our Site

Where our Site contains links to other web sites and resources
provided by third parties, these links are provided for your
information only. We have not
reviewed the content of those web sites and have no control over
the content of those web sites or resources, and accept no
responsibility for them or for
any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them. We are
not responsible for and do not endorse or warrant any materials,
information, goods or
services available through any linked websites. These third party
web sites have separate and independent privacy statements, notices
and terms of use,
which we recommend you read carefully. By ordering any of our
Products and Services, you also acknowledge you have read, accept and
agree to be bound by the End User License Agreement of our third party
provider mPortal, Inc. at www.mportal.com/eula/.

Grant of Limited License to Use the Products and Services

Unless otherwise specified, the Products and Services, including
any content viewed through our Streaming Service, are for your
personal and non-commercial
use only and we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-
transferable, license for that purpose. Except for the foregoing
limited license, no right, title
or interest shall be transferred to you. You may not download
(other than through page caching necessary for personal use, or as
otherwise expressly
permitted by these Terms of Use), modify, copy, distribute,
transmit, display, perform, reproduce, duplicate, publish, license,
create derivative works
from, or offer for sale any information contained on, or obtained
from or through, the our Site, without our express written consent.
You may not
circumvent, remove, alter, deactivate, degrade or thwart any of
the content protections on our Products and Services. Any unauthorized
use of the Streaming
Service or its contents will terminate the limited license granted
by us and will result in the cancellation of your membership.

Ordering Products or Services

(a) Restrictions on Purchases of Products and Services

(i) Restrictions on Geographic Availability

Some restrictions are placed on the extent to which we accept
orders for Products or Services from specific countries. These
restrictions can be found on
our Frequently Asked Questions page of our Site. Please review our
Frequently Asked Questions pages on our Site, as relevant, before
ordering Products and
Services from us.

(ii) Restrictions on Age of Purchaser

You must be 18 years of age or older to place an order on our
Site. In certain jurisdictions, the age of majority may be older than
18, in which case you
must satisfy that age in order to become a member. Individuals
under the age of 18 may only place an order on our Site with the
involvement of a parent or
legal guardian, under such person’s account and otherwise subject
to these Terms of Use.

(b) Product Orders for Shipment

When you place an order to purchase a Product from our Site, we
will send you a confirmatory email that will contain details of the
Product(s) you have
ordered along with any delivery charges.

You must check that the details in the confirmatory email are
correct as soon as possible and should print out and keep a copy of it
for your records.

Your order will represent an offer to us to purchase the relevant
Product(s) which will be accepted by us when we dispatch the Product
(s) ordered from our
headquarters in Virginia, USA, to you.

We will confirm that the Product(s) (other than downloads and
Streaming Service) have been dispatched to you by sending you an e-
mail confirmation (a
“Shipping Confirmation”). This Shipping Confirmation will be
evidence that we dispatched the Product(s) to you, and that the
contract between us (the
“Contract”) has been formed. The Contract shall be deemed to
include these Terms and Conditions.

In the event that we are unable to fulfill your total order in one
shipment (for example if one of the Products you have ordered are out
of stock), any
Product(s) on the same order which we have not confirmed in the
Shipping Confirmation to have been dispatched will not form part of
that Contract. We will
not be obliged to supply any such Product(s) which may have been
part of your order until the dispatch of such Product(s) has been
confirmed in a separate
Shipping Confirmation.

(c) Orders for Digital Download or Streaming Service

When you place an order to purchase any downloadable Products or
Services, we will send you a confirmatory email that will contain
details of what you have
ordered, any delivery charges, as well as details regarding how
you can download them. When you are purchasing a downloadable or
streaming Product or
Service, the Contract between us relating to such downloads or
streaming Products or Services will only be formed once we make those
Products and Services
available for you to download from our servers.

(d) Import Duty

Orders may be subject to import duties and taxes which are levied
when the delivery reaches the specified destination. You will be
responsible for payment
of any such import duties and taxes. Please note that we have no
control over these charges and cannot predict their amount. Please
contact your local
customs office for further information before placing your order,
and please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions Page of our Site
for further
information.

Please also note that it is your responsibility to understand and
comply with all applicable laws and regulations of the country for
which the products are
destined. We will not be liable for any breach by you of any such
laws.

(e) Risk and Title

The risk of loss or damage to Product(s) passes to you on delivery
of the Product(s).
Ownership of the Product(s) will only pass to you when we receive
full payment of all sums due in respect of the Product(s), including
postage and packing
charges.

(f) Pricing

The price of any Product(s) will be as quoted on our Site from
time to time, except in cases of obvious error. Prices are liable to
change at any time, but
changes will not affect orders for which we have already sent you
a Shipping Confirmation (or confirmation email in relation to
downloads).

Our Site contains a large number of Products and Services and it
is always possible that, despite our best efforts, some of the
Products and Services
listed on our Site may be incorrectly priced. We will normally
verify prices as part of our dispatch and distribution procedures so
that, where a Product’s
or Service’s correct price is less than our stated price, we will
charge the lower amount when dispatching or distributing such Product
or Service to you.
If a Product’s correct price is higher than the price stated on
our Site, we will normally, at our discretion, either contact you for
instructions before
dispatching the Product, or reject your order and notify you of
such rejection. In such circumstances, we are under no obligation to
provide the Product or
Service to you at the incorrect (lower) price, even after we have
sent you a Shipping Confirmation, if the pricing error is obvious and
unmistakable and
could have reasonably been recognized by you as incorrect pricing.

(g) Payment

Payment for all Products and Services must be by credit or debit
card. We accept payment with American Express, Visa, MasterCard and
Discover. We will not
charge your credit or debit card until we dispatch your order.

Intellectual Property

Trademarks.

The trademarks, trade names, trade dress, logos, and service marks
(collectively, the "Trademarks") displayed on this Site are the
registered and/or
unregistered Trademarks of Company, or such third party that may
own the displayed Trademarks. Nothing contained on this Site or in the
Terms serves to
grant to you, by implication or otherwise, any license or right to
use any Trademarks displayed on this Site without the written
permission of Company or
such third party that may own the displayed Trademarks.

Site Contents and Copyright.

The text, Trademarks, logos, images, graphics, photos, video
files, application functionality, or any other digital media, the
Products Services available
through our Site and their arrangement on this Site (“Company
Intellectual Property”) are all subject to patent, copyright,
trademark and other
intellectual property protection. Company Intellectual Property
may not be copied for commercial use or distribution, nor may Company
Intellectual Property
be modified, processed, or reposted to other websites for
commercial purposes without our written permission. Access is granted
to this Site solely for
your use of Company services for personal entertainment,
information, education and communication with Company. You may
download copy or print the content
of this Site for your personal non-commercial use only. No right,
title or interest in any of the Content of this Site is transferred to
you as a result of
any downloading, copying, printing or use of this Site. All such
rights in Company Intellectual Property not expressly granted in by
the Company are
reserved. You are not permitted to modify the paper or digital
copies of Company Intellectual Property, or to use any illustrations,
photographs, video or
audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying
text.

Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the
authors of material on our Site must always be acknowledged.

If you print off, copy, download or otherwise use any part of our
Site or our Products or Services in breach of these terms of use, your
right to use our
Site and such Products and Services will cease immediately and you
must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you
have made.

The Great Courses Products and Services are provided for your
personal use only. You agree not to resell, copy, or redistribute The
Great Courses’
materials, nor may you use it for any commercial purpose.

If you order downloadable or streaming Products or Services, you
agree that The Great Courses’ encrypted watermarks are reasonable
means to detect
misappropriation of its course materials which are protected by
copyright and trademark law. You agree that removal of such watermarks
would violate the
terms of this contract.

Copyrights and Digital Millennium Copyright Agents.

Pursuant to our rights under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(“DMCA”), 17 U.S.C. §512, we have designated a copyright agent to
receive copyright
infringement notices for claims of infringement related to
materials found on this Site. Our copyright agent is ____CA
Inquiries__________. The agent can
be reached at: 4840 Westfields Blvd. Suite #500, Chantilly, Va. 20151
or via email at customerservice@greatco
urses.com,

DMCA Infringement Notification.

To be effective, your infringement notification must include the
following:

1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to
act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly
infringed;

2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been
infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site
are covered by a single
notification, a representative list of such works at that site;

3. Identification of the material or content that is claimed to be
infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to
be removed or have
access disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit
us to locate the material;

4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact the
complaining party, including address, telephone number and email
address where the
complaining party may be contacted;

5. The following statement: “I have a good faith belief that use
of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the
copyright owner, its
agent, or the law”; and

6. The following statement: “The information in this notification
is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, I swear that I am the
copyright owner or that
I am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive
right that is allegedly infringed.”

Upon receipt of the written notification containing the
information as outlined in 1 through 6 above:

1. We will remove or disable access to the content that is alleged
to be infringing;

2. We will forward the written notification to the alleged
infringer; and

3. We will take reasonable steps to promptly notify the alleged
infringer that we have removed or disabled access to the content.

DMCA Infringement Counter Notification

Pursuant to the DMCA, after the alleged infringer receives a
notice of infringement from Company, the alleged infringer will have
the opportunity to
respond to Company with a counter notification (“Counter
Notification”). To be effective, a Counter Notification must be a
written communication provided
to Company’s designated copyright agent, and must include the
following:

1. A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber;

2. Identification of the material that has been removed or to
which access has been disabled and the location at which the material
appeared before it was
removed or access disabled;

3. The following statement: “I swear under penalty of perjury that
it is my good faith belief that the material identified above was
removed or disabled as
a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be
removed or disabled;” and

4. The subscriber’s name, address, and telephone number, and a
statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of the
federal district court for
the judicial district in which the subscriber’s address is
located, or if the subscriber’s address is outside of the United
States, or any judicial
district in which Company may be found, and that the subscriber
will accept service of process from the person who provided
notification or an agent of
such person.

Upon the copyright agent’s receipt of a Counter Notification
containing the information as outlined in 1 through 4 above, the DMCA
provides that the
removed material will be restored or access re-enabled and we will
comply with this requirement as required by law, provided that the
designated agent has
not received notice from the original complaining party that an
action has been filed seeking a court order to restrain the subscriber
from engaging in
infringing activity relating to the material on our network.

Our Liability

Commentary, testimonials, reviews, and other materials posted on
our Site along with the Products and Services themselves are not
intended to amount to
advice on which reliance should be placed. We therefore disclaim
all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on
such materials by any
visitor to our Site, or by anyone who may be informed of any of
its contents. Any of the material on our Site may be out of date at
any given time, and we
are under no obligation to update such material.

Our liability for losses you suffer as a result of us breaching
this agreement, including deliberate breaches, is strictly limited to
the purchase price of
the Product you purchased.

(a) Disclaimers of Warranties and Limitations on Liability

THIS SITE USES COOKIES AND MAY ALSO USE THE SERVICES OF THIRD-
PARTY PROVIDERS THAT DEPLOY COOKIES IN CONNECTION WITH THEIR SERVICES.
BY USING THE SITE, YOU
CONSENT TO THE PLACEMENT OF COOKIES ON ANY DEVICE USED TO ACCESS
OUR SITE(S). EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE PROVIDED ON OUR SITE, PRODUCTS AND
SERVICES ARE PROVIDED
“AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITH ALL FAULTS AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF
ANY KIND. WE AND OUR LICENSORS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES
OF ANY KIND WITH
RESPECT TO THE STREAMING SERVICE, OUR SITE, AND ALL AND SOFTWARE
ASSOCIATED THEREWITH. THE COMPANY DOES NOT GUARANTEE, REPRESENT, OR
WARRANT THAT YOUR USE
OF STREAMING SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, AND YOU
AGREE THAT THE COMPANY MAY ELIMINATE OR OTHERWISE MODIFY ANY OR ALL
ASPECTS OF STREAMING
SERVICE, INCLUDING FEATURES, WITHOUT COMPENSATION OR NOTICE TO
YOU. THE COMPANY SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS LIABILITY FOR THE USE OF
DEVICES IN CONNECTION WITH
STREAMING SERVICE (INCLUDING THEIR CONTINUING COMPATIBILITY WITH
STREAMING SERVICE). WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, WE AND OUR
LICENSORS ASSUME NO
LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY OF THE FOLLOWING: (I) ANY
FAILURE OR INTERRUPTION IN THE AVAILABILITY OF STREAMING SERVICE, (II)
DELIVERY AND OR
DISPLAY OF ANY CONTENT CONTAINED ON OUR SITE OR OTHERWISE THROUGH
STREAMING SERVICE; AND (III) ANY LOSSES OR DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE
USE OF THE PRODUCTS
OR SERVICES PROVIDED ON OUR SITE OR OTHERWISE THROUGH STREAMING
SERVICE, INCLUDING ANY LOSSES OR DAMAGES ARISING FROM DOWNLOADING OF
RELATED SOFTWARE,
DOWNLOADING AND/OR USE OF ANY OTHER SOFTWARE. EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE
PROVIDED ON OUR SITE, TO THE EXTENT ALLOWABLE BY LAW, WE AND OUR
LICENSORS DISCLAIM ALL
REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, FOR EXAMPLE, WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY, SATISFACTORY QUALITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE, AND
NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT REPRESENT OR GUARANTEE THAT YOUR USE
OF THE STREAMING SERVICE WILL BE FREE FROM INTERRUPTION, LOSS,
CORRUPTION, ATTACK,
VIRUSES, INTERFERENCE, HACKING, OR OTHER SECURITY INTRUSION AND WE
DISCLAIM ANY LIABILITY WITH RESPECT THERETO. NO ORAL OR WRITTEN
INFORMATION OR ADVICE
GIVEN BY THE COMPANY OR AN AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OF THE
COMPANY SHALL CREATE A WARRANTY OR OTHERWISE CONSTITUTE A
REPRESENTATION BINDING UPON THE
COMPANY.

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COMPANY, OR ITS SUBSIDIARIES OR ANY OF THEIR
SHAREHOLDERS, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES OR LICENSORS BE LIABLE
(JOINTLY OR
SEVERALLY) TO YOU FOR PERSONAL INJURY OR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL,
INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES
WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM
LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION OR ANY OTHER
COMMERCIAL DAMAGES OR LOSS, WHETHER OR NOT ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY
OF DAMAGE, AND ON
ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
USE OR PERFORMANCE OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES, OUR SITE, AND ALL CONTENTS
AND SOFTWARE
ASSOCIATED THEREWITH. IN NO EVENT SHALL OUR TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU
FOR ALL DAMAGES FOR LOSSES ARISING FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE
THE PRODUCTS OR
SERVICES, OUR SITE, AND ALL CONTENTS AND SOFTWARE ASSOCIATED
THEREWITH EXCEED THE PURCHASE PRICE OF THE RELEVANT PRODUCT OR
SERVICE. IN THE EVENT THAT A
CLAIM DOES NOT RELATE TO A PRODUCT OR SERVICE, OUR TOTAL LIABILITY
TO YOU FOR ANY RELATED DAMAGES SHALL BE LIMITED TO ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS
($100.00). THE
FOREGOING LIMITATIONS WILL APPLY EVEN IF THE ABOVE STATED REMEDY
FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. IF ANY APPLICABLE AUTHORITY HOLDS ANY
PORTION OF THIS
SECTION OR OTHER SECTIONS OF THESE TERMS OF USE, INCLUDING ANY
PORTION OF THE PRIVACY POLICY, TO BE UNENFORCEABLE, THEN THOSE
PORTIONS DEEMED UNENFORCEABLE
SHALL BE SEVERED AND THE TERMS OF USE SHALL BE ENFORCED ABSENT
THOSE PROVISIONS AND ANY LIABILITY TO THE COMPANY WILL BE LIMITED TO
THE FULLEST POSSIBLE
EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

BECAUSE SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR
LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, COMPANY’S, ITS
AFFILIATES’, AGENTS’, LICENSORS’
AND SUPPLIERS’ DAMAGES IN SUCH JURISDICTIONS SHALL BE LIMITED TO
THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

(b) Indemnity

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Company, any
parent corporation, its affiliates, and its and their officers,
directors, employees and
agents, from and against any and all claims, damages, obligations,
losses, liabilities, costs or debt, and expenses (including but not
limited to
reasonable attorney's fees) arising from: (i) your use of and
access to the Site; (ii) your violation of any term of these Terms of
Service; (iii) your
violation of any third party right, including without limitation
any copyright, property, or privacy right; or (iv) any claim that any
Response submitted
by you causes damage to a third party. This defense and
indemnification obligation will survive these Terms and Conditions and
your use of the Site.

Transfer of Rights and Obligations

These Terms and Conditions and any Contract between you and us is
binding on you and us and on our respective successors and assigns.

You may not transfer, assign, change, or otherwise dispose of
these Terms and Conditions or a Contract, or any of your rights or
obligations arising under
them, without our prior written consent. We may transfer, assign,
charge, sub-contract or otherwise dispose of these Terms and
Conditions or a Contract, or
any of our rights or obligations arising under them, at any time.

Waiver

If we fail, at any time during the term of a Contract, to insist
upon strict performance of any of your obligations under the Contract
or any of these
Terms and Conditions, or if we fail to exercise any of the rights
or remedies to which we are entitled under the Contract or these Terms
and Conditions,
this shall not constitute a waiver of such rights or remedies and
shall not relieve you from compliance with such obligations. A waiver
by us of any
default shall not constitute a waiver of any subsequent default.

No waiver by us of any of these Terms and Conditions shall be
effective unless it is expressly stated to be a waiver and is
communicated to you in writing.

Severability

If any of these Terms and Conditions or any provisions of a
Contract are determined by any competent authority to be invalid,
unlawful, or unenforceable to
any extent, such term, condition, or provision will to that extent
be severed from the remaining terms, conditions, and provisions which
will continue to
be valid to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Notice and Consent to Electronic Communications.

When you visit this Site or send e-mails to us, you are
communicating with us electronically. By using this Site, you consent
to receive communications
from us electronically, including, without limitation, e-mail and
text messages. We will communicate with you by e-mail, text messaging
or by posting
notices to your account on this Site. You agree that all
agreements, notices, disclosures and other communications that we
provide to you electronically
satisfy any legal requirement for enforceability purposes,
including the enforcement of electronic signatures.

Law and Jurisdiction

Contracts for the purchase of Products and Services through our
Site and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with
them or their subject
matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims)
will be governed by governed by and construed in accordance with the
laws of the state
of New York, without regard to conflict of laws provisions. and
shall be subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of
New York, New York.

Entire Agreement

These Terms and Conditions and any document expressly referred to
in them represent the entire agreement between us in relation to the
subject matter of
any Contract and supersede any prior agreement, understanding, or
arrangement between us, whether oral or in writing.

We each acknowledge that, in entering into a Contract, neither of
us has relied on any representation, undertaking, or promise given by
the other or be
implied from anything said or written in negotiations between us
prior to such Contract except as expressly stated in these Terms and
Conditions.

Neither of us shall have any remedy in respect of any untrue
statement made by the other, whether orally or in writing, prior to
the date of any Contract
(unless such untrue statement was made fraudulently) and the other
party's only remedy shall be for breach of contract as provided in
these Terms

Protecting your privacy

The Great Courses Privacy Policy Effective Date:

July 15, 2014

Welcome to thegreatcourses.com (“The Great Courses”) Website (“Website”). The Great Courses, its subsidiaries and affiliates, or other members of our
family of companies value your participation and loyalty. We are committed to the protection of member and community privacy. The Great Courses has created
this Privacy Policy in order to demonstrate its commitment to the privacy and protection of your personal information. To better protect your privacy, The
Great Courses provides this notice explaining our information practices and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used.

Information about Us

Our Website is operated by The Teaching Company, LLC, 4840 Westfields Blvd., Suite 500, Chantilly, VA 20151-2299 (under the trading name of The Great
Courses). If you would like information on how to contact us, click Contact Us.

1. What Information Is Collected

The following are the types of information we may collect:

The Great Courses may collect personal information like name, telephone number, email address, date of birth, home or business mailing address, and details
regarding your mode of payment, e.g., credit/debit card or account information, when you access certain areas of the Website that require
registration or payment for products and services, or if you require more information about those services.

Non-Personal Information

At other times, The Great Courses may collect information that cannot be used to directly identify you, such as browser type, Dynamic Internet Protocol
(IP) address, “click stream” data, and similar non-personally identifiable information. For example, we may aggregate non-personal information about you
and other customers who visit certain areas of our Website. Aggregated information will not contain any information that can be linked directly back to
you.

While we take all reasonable steps to protect the privacy of our Website visitors, we cannot promise that the current limitations of our online
applications programming will address every browser setting or honor every personal browser preference. In particular, we have not implemented the
necessary program changes to honor “Do Not Track” or “DNT” browser signals. As our online applications programming is refined, we will take all reasonable
steps to honor such requests in the future. Please return to this Privacy Policy for further updates on this topic.

Further, our online service providers or business partners may implement technologies that allow for the collection of personally identifiable information
over time and across Websites. We recommend that you review each privacy policy posted on the Websites that you visit to better understand privacy
practices on those Websites.

Electronic Communications

When you open emails from us or engage in SMS or MMS communications, we may log and store such information. We may also keep records of various
communications regarding the types of products and services that you indicate are of interest to you via your response to email and text messaging. You
will always have the option to opt-out of such communications by clicking an “unsubscribe” link or replying “STOP” to our text messages.

2. How Do We Collect Information

We may collect information from you in several different areas on the Website, including, without limitation, those described below:

Registration

You may be asked to complete a registration form and provide personally identifiable information; you may also be asked to choose a user ID and password in
order to take advantage of certain features on the Website or digital messaging services, such as newsletters or contests. Your decision to register is
voluntary and you will have the opportunity to decide whether or not to disclose information to us and what communications you would like to receive;
however, please be advised that many products and services available on the Website require registration and if you elect not to provide such information,
you will not be able to take advantage of those products and services.

Contests or Sweepstakes

We periodically operate contests and sweepstakes through the Website and messaging services that will require registration or the submission of personal
information. Your personally identifiable information may be used to contact you for winner notification, prize delivery confirmation or other related
purposes (see the rules of each contest for details about how your personal information will be used, including postings to the Website).

Surveys and Games

From time-to-time we may request personally identifiable information from you in conjunction with a survey or games, such as quizzes. Participation is
voluntary, and you will have the opportunity to decide whether or not to disclose information to the Website. At times, you may have to register to vote or
to take part in a survey. When you register to play games on our Website, you may be asked to provide personally identifiable information.

Cookies and Tracking Technology

We may use any number of tools to collect information about you, your computer access points, and the web browser that you use to connect to our Website.
For example, “cookies” are tiny text files that we place on your computer’s hard drive when you visit our Website. We may use cookies to personalize your
Website experience. You do not have to accept our cookies and you may delete them after they have been placed on your hard drive. If you do not accept or
delete our cookies, some areas of our Website that you access may take more time to work, or may not function properly. For more information about cookies,
visit: http://www.allaboutcookies.org.

The Great Courses may also collect additional information from your web browser each time you visit our Website. We may collect information on the pages
that you visit, the promotions or advertisements that you click on, and other actions that you take while using our Website. This information may include
your IP address, the type of browser, the time that your browser was used to access our Website, and the referring Website address.

Our Internet Service Providers (defined below) may also use other standard web-based technologies to analyze your movements while accessing our Website.
The technologies include analytic solutions, web “beacons,” “pixel tags,” and “clear gifs.” These technologies help us ascertain the effectiveness of our
product and service campaigns and marketing programs, allow us to customize the services offered on or through our Website, and help determine the best use
for Website content, and product and service offerings. Some of this information, including the IP address, may be stored on our Internet service
provider’s server logs, and may be available for extended periods of time.

Transaction Information

If you conduct a financial or other transaction with the Website, such as subscribe to a Subscription Product or other products/services offered on the
Website, we will ask you to complete an order form that will request certain information from you, including contact information, demographic information
and/or financial information. Even though the collection form may have the look and feel of thegreatcourses.com, please be aware you may be giving your
information directly to the third party Internet Service Provider, and that in some instances such third party Internet Service Provider's Privacy Policy
will govern the collection of your personal information. Please reference the privacy policies available from these pages for any privacy related concerns.

We and/or our Internet Service Providers will use this information to complete the financial or other transaction that you have requested, i.e.,
to deliver the information, products or other services that you request or purchase, to invoice you, and in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy.
For your protection, financial information is collected and stored through encrypted means.

We use your personal information to send you order confirmations. In such cases, you should receive via e-mail an order confirmation within moments of
placing your order. Designed to supplement your learning experience, you will receive course starter materials for every course you purchase. These
materials include the professor's summary of the course, links to recommended websites, and recommended readings. Occasionally, you will receive
interesting and compelling articles of interest on the subjects covered by our courses. From time-to-time you may receive e-mail surveys to vote for The
Great Courses you want us to make, to rate the quality of The Great Courses you have purchased, to tell us what improvements to make to The Great Courses
and our services, and to tell us which professors we should choose to make the next Great Course. We may also use your personal information to notify you
of special offers. You will receive e-mails notifying you when courses featured in our print catalogs and newsletters go on sale. These e-mails also make
ordering extremely simple—if you see courses that interest you, simply click on the links in the e-mail to find out more.

We may also use your IP address to help protect us and our Internet Service Providers from fraud. Additional uses of your non-personal and personal
information will allow us to tailor products and services specific to your needs, to help organize and manage your customer relationship and our business,
to conduct business, to provide you with customer and member support, to perform functions that are described to you at the time of collection, and to
enforce our Website’s Terms and Conditions of Use.

We may also use non-personal aggregate information to improve our Website. For example, our Internet Service Providers may report to us that there were a
particular number of visitors to a certain area of our Website, or that a certain number of men or a certain number of women completed our registration
form in particular areas of our Website. Such information may also be used to analyze the effectiveness of our business and advertising models.

4. Shared Information

We may share your personal information with the Internet Service Providers as appropriate. For personal information collected after the effective date of
this Privacy Policy, we may also share personally identifiable information with outside, non-affiliated third parties that offer products and services that
are complementary to our product lines. However, such collection and use of personal information will not be retroactively applied to personal information
collected before the effective date of this Privacy Policy, without your consent. We may also disclose your personal information as is necessary to: (a)
comply with a subpoena or court order; (b) cooperate with law enforcement or other government agency; (c) establish or exercise our legal rights; (d)
protect the property or safety of our company and employees, contractors, vendors, and suppliers; (e) defend against legal claims; (f) help with internal
and external investigations; or (g) as otherwise required by law or permitted by law. We may disclose your information in connection with the sale or
merger of The Great Courses or any transaction that involves the sale or assignment of some or all of our assets.

Third-Party ad serving, analytics, and audience and traffic measurement services: We may use a third-party network advertiser to serve the advertisements
on the Website or may use a traffic measurement service to analyze the traffic on the Website. Network advertisers are third parties that display
advertisements based on your visits to this Website and other Websites you have visited. Third-party ad serving enables us to target advertisements to you
for products or Websites you might be interested in. audience and traffic measurement services allow us to collect anonymous traffic and behavior
information from the Website by monitoring anonymous visitor activity. Although advertisers or other companies do not have access to the Website cookies,
the Website's advertisers, sponsors and/or traffic measurement services may themselves set and access their own cookies on your computer if you choose to
have your cookies enabled in your browser. Cookies allow third-party advertisers to show you advertisements or content you might be interested in. Note
that any images (or any other parts of a web page) served by third parties in association with third-party cookies may serve as web beacons, which enable
third parties to carry out the previously described activities. Other companies' uses of their cookies are subject to their own privacy policies, not this
one. Please visit http://www.networkadvertising.org/optout_nonppii.asp in order to learn more about the information collection practices and "opt-out"
procedures of third-party ad servers we may use.

With regard to name and postal address only, from time to time, we may make our mailing list available to carefully screened companies. If you prefer we
don’t share your name and postal address, please call our Customer Care team at 1-800-832-2412 or write to us at The Great Courses, 4840 Westfields Blvd.,
Suite 500, Chantilly, VA, 20151-2299. (However, because this reflects a change in practice, the new policy applies only to the names and postal addresses
of new customers added to our mailing list after October 1, 2013.)

5. Links To Third-party Websites

Links of this Website may allow you to directly access Websites operated by third parties, including, without limitation, our service providers (such as
third-party shopping cart service provider) or marketing providers. Some of these third-party marketing channels may be “co-branded” with our logo; even
so, these third-party channels are not operated, controlled or maintained by The Great Courses. These channels or links are provided for your convenience
only and should be used with your discretion and prudent judgment. Links from our Website to third-party Websites do not constitute sponsorship,
endorsement, or approval of the content, policies or practices of such third-party Websites. The collection and use of your information by such co-branding
third parties is the responsibility of the co-branding partner, and they may use your personal information for their direct marketing purposes. We are not
responsible for any information these Websites or digital channels may obtain and we do not oversee their policies or practices. This Privacy Policy does
not apply to information provided to or gathered by the third parties that operate them. The privacy policies of these third-party Websites may differ from
ours. These Websites may ask you for Personal Information. Please review the privacy policy on third-party channels before submitting information, because
we do not have control over the use of information collected on these Websites. Please review the privacy policies and practices of these digital channels
before providing any Personal Information.

6. Information Security

The Great Courses makes reasonable efforts to ensure that our Internet Service Providers have implemented physical, electronic, and procedural security
measures to assist with safeguarding your personal information, and to help protect against unauthorized access and disclosure. Only our authorized
personnel and our Internet Service Providers who perform legitimate business functions for The Great Courses are authorized to access your personal
information.

Notwithstanding our efforts, the Internet and online services have inherent security risks. The Great Courses cannot promise, and you should not expect,
that your personal information, personal searches, and other communications will always remain secure. You should take care with regard to how you handle
and disclose your personal information or any username or password that you are required to use to access services on this Website or online service.

7. Data Retention Periods

We will retain your personally identifiable information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services. If you wish to cancel
your account or request that we no longer use your information to provide you services contact us at customerservice@thegreatcourses.com. We will retain and use your information as necessary to
comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

8. Other Social Media Websites, Blogs, Message Boards

The Website and The Great Courses Mobile application ("The Great Courses Mobile") may make chat rooms, forums, commenting and message boards available to
you and other users. You are not required to provide any personal information when using these areas but you may choose to do so. If you post personal
information online, it will be publicly available and you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties. In addition, when you post a comment to The
Great Courses Mobile, the user name with which you registered for the Website and your current location will be made publicly available on the Website and
through The Great Courses Mobile. By using the commenting features of the Website and The Great Courses Mobile, you acknowledge that your user name and
location information will be disclosed. We cannot ensure the security of any information you choose to make public in a chat room, forum, or message board.
Also, we cannot ensure that parties who have access to such publicly available information will respect your privacy. Please exercise caution when deciding
to disclose personal information in these areas. To request removal of your personal information from our blog or community forum, contact us at: customerservice@thegreatcourses.com. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your personal
information, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to do so and why.

9. General Audience Website Not Directed Toward Children

This Website is a general audience Website. Our content is neither directed toward minors nor children who are under the age of 13. We do not knowingly
collect personal information from children under the age of 13. If The Great Courses or our Internet Service Providers become aware that a minor or a child
under the age of 13 has provided us with personal information without the parental consent, that information will be deleted from our databases. Parents
who have questions about personal information that may have been submitted by a child under the age of 13 should email us at: customerservice@thegreatcourses.com.

10. Consent to Privacy Policy

By using the Website, you signify your agreement to the terms of this Privacy Policy. We may amend this Privacy Policy at any time. If we make a material
change to the way in which we collect, use, and/or share your personal information, we will post a notice on the Website and/or send an email to users who
have provided an email address. Please note that you should always update your personal information to provide us with a current email address.

11. Access to Personal Information and Consent to Transfer

The first time that you provide us with registration information through our Website, you may be offered the opportunity to subscribe to and receive
additional information about our products and services. After your first use, you can make changes to your personal information and your initial choices by
accessing your account or by contacting customer service e-mail at customerservice@thegreatcourses.com.

The United States may not have data privacy laws that are deemed to afford an equal level of protection for your Personal Information as those laws
legislated at the direction of the European Union or similar geopolitical, national or regional legislative bodies. However, please be assured that The
Great Courses will continue to adhere to the principles stated in this Privacy Policy and will make reasonable efforts to comply with applicable
international, national, regional, territorial, and provincial laws in connection with any information collected through the Website. The Great Courses
will endeavor to preserve the integrity, confidentiality, and security of personal information and afford such personal information reasonable level of
protection.

For those Website users located outside the United States, we advise you that your information may at times be accessible by individuals who are located
worldwide including in countries that the European Commission or other geopolitical regions have not been determined to provide the same level of data
protection as in your country, province, territory or geopolitical region. By providing us with your Personal Information, you consent to our use of it in
accordance with The Great Courses’ Privacy Policy, including the transfer of your information across international boundaries to jurisdictions anywhere in
the world as permitted by local law.

12. Your California Privacy Rights

Other than as is stated by this Privacy Policy, the Great Courses will not share any personal information about you with outside third-parties for their
direct marketing purposes to the extent prohibited by California law, unless you agree otherwise as authorized by your prior written consent.

California residents have the right to request information from The Great Courses regarding the manner that we may share personal information with
affiliated companies and third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To find out what and how we share such information, you may send us an e-mail
request at: customerservice@thegreatcourses.com or mail a request to: Privacy Officer, The Great
Courses 4840 Westfields Blvd. Suite #500 Chantilly, VA 20151-2299, and receive the following information:

A. The categories of information we disclosed to third parties for their direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year, if any;

B. The names and addresses of the third parties who received information for their direct marketing purposes; and

C. Examples of the products and services subject to the third-parties’ direct marketing programs, if the nature of the third parties’ business cannot be
determined from their names.

Books That Have Made History: Books That Can Change Your Life

While this set works well in both audio and video format, one or more of the courses in this set feature graphics to enhance your learning experience, including illustrations, images of people and event, and on-screen text.

Course Overview

About This Course

36 lectures | 30 minutes per lecture

What makes a written work eternal—its message still so fundamental to the way we live that it continues to speak to us, hundreds or thousands of years distant from the lifetime of its author? Why do we still respond to an ancient Greek playwright's tale of the Titan so committed to humanity's survival that he is willing to endure eternal torture in his defiance of the gods? To the cold advice of a 16th-century Florentine exiled from the corridors of power? To the words of a World War I German veteran writing of the horrors of endless trench warfare?

Most important of all, what do such works—"Great Books" in every sense—mean to us? Can they deepen our self-knowledge and wisdom? Are our lives changed in any meaningful way by the experience of reading them?

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What makes a written work eternal—its message still so fundamental to the way we live that it continues to speak to us, hundreds or thousands of years distant from the lifetime of its author? Why do we still respond to an ancient Greek playwright's tale of the Titan so committed to humanity's survival that he is willing to endure eternal torture in his defiance of the gods? To the cold advice of a 16th-century Florentine exiled from the corridors of power? To the words of a World War I German veteran writing of the horrors of endless trench warfare?

Most important of all, what do such works—"Great Books" in every sense—mean to us? Can they deepen our self-knowledge and wisdom? Are our lives changed in any meaningful way by the experience of reading them?

In this course, Professor J. Rufus Fears presents his choices of some of the most essential writings in history. These are books that have shaped the minds of great individuals, who in turn have shaped events of historic magnitude.

This course does not analyze the literature or discuss it in detail; rather, it focuses on intellectual history and ethics. What Professor Fears does is to take the underlying ideas of each great work and show how these ideas can be put to use in a moral and ethical life.

Beginning with his definition of a great book as one that possesses a great theme of enduring importance, noble language that "elevates the soul and ennobles the mind," and a universality that enables it to "speak across the ages," Professor Fears examines a body of work that offers an extraordinary gift of wisdom to those willing to receive it.

From the Aeneid and the Book of Job to Othello and 1984, the selections range in time from the 3rd millennium B.C. to the 20th century, and in locale from Mesopotamia and China to Europe and America.

A Chronology of Fundamental Choices

And though every thoughtful reader's list of historically important books will likely differ, few would argue against the profound importance of any of these selections. Together, they show how humankind has dealt with the choices revolving around the three themes of God, Fate, and Good-and-Evil—and how those choices shape our morality and direct our lives as we answer the question in the fourth main theme of this course: How should we live?

This course by the University of Oklahoma's three-time "Professor of the Year" is a vital intellectual and moral journey that remains constantly invigorating because of a teaching style that keeps even the most abstract concepts readily accessible.

Professor Fears is especially diligent about referring back to the main themes identified at the beginning of the course and comparing the position taken by each new author to what previously discussed authors have said. As a result, you'll find that each new lecture is smoothly layered into an ever-growing accumulation of knowledge. Each work comes alive, its ideas rich in consequence.

Even if you're already familiar with these works from a literary standpoint, this is a course well worth your attention; Professor Fears approaches each of these works from an entirely different direction, considering philosophical and moral perspectives that superbly complement a purely literary understanding.

Ideas Crucial To Every Thoughtful Person

And as Professor Fears is eager to point out, a grasp of those perspectives is crucial to the education of every thoughtful person.

"History is our sense of the past," he notes. "And these great books are our links to the great ideas of the past. This course is built upon the belief that great books, great ideas and great individuals make history.

"That's not a popular notion today, and certainly not in the academic world. In the academic world, we like to think that it is anonymous social and economic forces that make history. Slavery, for example, is the great object of study for those who ponder the lessons of the ancient world. Well à they're wrong. Karl Marx, who is the intellectual father of this notion that social and economic forces make great ideas, was wrong.

"It is the great ideas that propel men and women to become great in themselves. It was the great idea of truth that made Dietrich Bonhoeffer [the Lutheran pastor who defied Hitler and was hanged as a traitor] into a great man. It was a great idea of truth—and the great idea of God and of conscience—that made Socrates into a great man and left those Sophists, those academics, those professors of his day, trailing in the dust bin of history.

"History will say how well we have learned these values from the great books... all come together to educate us. For that is the ultimate goal of a course on the great books: wisdom."

What Can We Learn From The Great Books?

The point, of course, is that it is not the Great Books themselves that are important, but the values we learn from absorbing them. Professor Fears offers dramatic illustrations of choices taken and values chosen, and of the lives lived as a result.

He speaks, for example, of how Mohandas Gandhi relates the impact on his life of the time he spent each day reading the Bhagavad Gita's "Song of God" as he brushed his teeth.

A willingness to gain wisdom was also a characteristic of Gandhi's great antagonist, Winston Churchill, as Professor Fears shows us when the course turns to three of the works authored by the British statesman.

Fundamental ideas about right and wrong reverberate through these lectures, as history's most profound thinkers ponder questions about life, death, God, and morality:

In the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, you'll see how words written as a means of self-education by a man who knew how ephemeral Rome's empire really was became an enduring guidepost on the path to wisdom.

In comparing the funeral orations given by Pericles in Athens and Lincoln at Gettysburg, you'll experience two of the most profound statements ever made about the necessity for just wars, as two great leaders grapple with the same questions addressed by Vergil in the Aeneid.

In Gilgamesh, you'll see how a search for eternal life and an understanding of why we must die teaches a questing ruler the greater importance of how we should live.

In the three plays of the Oresteia, you'll see how murder, revenge, duty, and divine intervention are used to show how the power of choice given us by free will is not, by itself, enough, and that disaster can ensue when choice is not guided by wisdom.

A Blueprint for "The Good Life"

This course encompasses Professor Fears's blueprint for "the good life," from the point of view of a historian who has ventured into philosophy and ethics, stemming from his own interest in great historic statesmen and from his interest in the history of freedom.

The themes in this course make it an ideal companion to other Teaching Company courses by Dr. Fears, including Famous Greeks, Famous Romans, Churchill, and especially A History of Freedom.

A Course Imbued with Optimism

According to Dr. Fears, optimism is the ultimate lesson of these great books.

"Never give up. Live your life and realize that every day, just as Thoreau told you and just as Homer tells you, every day you can begin again."

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36 Lectures

1

Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers From Prison

This lecture uses the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who sacrificed his life to fight totalitarianism, to illustrate a great book's most important attribute—its ability to speak to you as an individual and help shape the ideals by which you live your life. x

2

Homer, Iliad

We discuss the Iliad's role as one of the most deeply religious books ever composed, an enduring statement of the living tradition of polytheism and a profound effort to understand the meaning of life. x

3

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Though written to himself, this Roman emperor's great work has proven an enduring legacy, a reflection of an ethical life as applicable today as it was almost 2,000 years ago and a monument to self-sufficient wisdom. x

4

Bhagavad Gita

Composed in the same period as the Iliad, the Bhagavad Gita is regarded as the supreme creation of Sanskrit literature. Though an epic statement of polytheism, it proclaims truth as an all-encompassing, single, divine power. x

5

Book of Exodus

The most influential religious book ever composed, the Book of Exodus has shaped three great living religious traditions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—in its proclamation of a single, all-powerful God. x

6

Gospel of Mark

Each of the Gospels presents a portrait of Jesus differing in emphasis. Mark, drawn from the firsthand account of Peter, is the most concise and dramatic. Its Jesus is both prophet and philosopher, testifying to his search for wisdom by his trial and death. x

7

Koran

We examine the sacred book that holds for Muslims the same place that the words of Jesus do for Christians, the words of the book itself held as the revelation of God to humankind. x

8

Gilgamesh

The question of fate or destiny is at the core of the earliest literary work to come down to us, the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, composed in the 3rd millennium B.C. in what is now Iraq. x

9

Beowulf

Gilgamesh proclaims a heroic ideal: We are fated to die, but in the meantime, let us strive to be as great as possible. This same message is the theme of the first great work of English literature, the 8th-century Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf.x

10

Book of Job

If God is good, why does evil exist? The Book of Job is the most enduring attempt to answer that question, a profound disquisition on the ultimate mystery of God and the frailty of any human attempt to understand the divine. x

11

Aeschylus, Oresteia

The three plays of the Oresteia rank with the Oedipus of Sophocles as the greatest of Greek tragedies, a story of murder, revenge, duty, and divine intervention that raises in stark form the dilemma of free will. x

12

Euripides, Bacchae

For the great Athenian tragedians, it is moral blindness that leads to hybris (also hubris) and ruin. Pentheus in the Bacchae of Euripides exemplifies those who believe themselves wise but are, in fact, fatally ignorant. x

13

Plato, Phaedo

Fifth-century Greece sees the development of a more profound concept of the immortality of the soul. For Socrates, the belief in such an immortal soul was the ultimate question, as portrayed by Plato in the Phaedo.x

14

Dante, The Divine Comedy

The Divine Comedy is the supreme summary of the thought of medieval Europe, ranking with the Aeneid of Vergil as one of the most influential epic poems ever composed and key to shaping the Italian language as it is spoken today. x

15

Shakespeare, Othello, the Moor of Venice

The ancient Greeks and Romans did not have a figure comparable to Satan or the devil. To them, evil came in the form of human actions. In Renaissance England, this same idea was portrayed magnificently in Othello.x

16

Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound

Aeschylus, like the other great Greek tragedians, believes that we gain wisdom from those who suffered on a titanic stage—in this case, the great rebel Prometheus, who defied the will of Zeus to benefit humanity. x

17

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's book stands as a massive indictment of the evil of Joseph Stalin and of the Communist system, portraying with chilling insight the role of ordinary people in carrying out this evil. x

18

Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

Like Othello, Julius Caesar was written at the height of Shakespeare's creative talents. Its theme is honor and duty, the duty of a man to resist evil by violence and murder if necessary. x

19

George Orwell, 1984

In his novel 1984, George Orwell raises the pertinent and disturbing question of whether any individual can resist the modern power of the state, brilliantly illuminating the logical consequences of subordinating the individual to anonymous social and economic forces. x

20

Virgil, Aeneid

We examine Virgil's epic as both a work of literature and as a powerful and influential statement of the necessity of war in a just cause and the moral value of duty. x

21

Pericles, Oration; Lincoln, Gettysburg Address

Two great democratic statesmen used the occasion of a public funeral for the war dead to proclaim democracy an absolute good. Separated by almost 2,500 years, these two funeral orations represent the most profound statements of the necessity of just wars. x

22

Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front

Published in 1928, the best novel about war ever written gave voice to the feeling that nothing was worth another war, paving the way for appeasement policies in both Britain and France that in fact made another and even more horrible war inevitable. x

23

Confucius, The Analects

Few intellectual figures in history have so influenced a civilization as Confucius, the teacher whose wisdom guided the intellectual, political, and ethical life of China for more than two millennia. x

24

Machiavelli, The Prince

Confucius taught the art of government as it should be; Machiavelli as it really is. Written in 1513, The Prince might be called the handbook of modern politics and foreign policy, just as useful now as it was then for anyone interesting in gaining and keeping power. x

25

Plato, Republic

Plato's Republic might be called the greatest book on politics, education, and justice ever written. As The Divine Comedy embodies the values of the Middle Ages and the Aeneid those of Rome, the Republic embodies the ideals and values of classical Greece. x

26

John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

Published in 1859, John Stuart Mill's On Liberty is the classic statement of the liberal ideal of democratic government and social justice. For Mill, government exists to serve the individual, and individual liberty is the end of government, not a means to an end. x

27

Sir Thomas Malory, Morte d'Arthur

Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur captures the passion, consequences, and contradictions of romantic and spiritual love. One of the first great works of English prose, it summarizes the civilization of medieval chivalry in its ideal form. x

28

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, Part 1

Goethe ranks with Shakespeare and Dante as one of the three supreme geniuses of European literature, comparable to Homer and Vergil. In the first part of Faust, Goethe grapples with the implications of attaining knowledge at any cost. x

29

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, Part 2

The question of the role of beauty and cultural standards is one that every thoughtful person must decide on his or her own terms. We explore these themes against the backdrop of the moral growth and ultimate redemption of Dr. Faust. x

30

Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Thoreau, the most American of thinkers, is an unabashed Romantic in exploring the relationship of Man to the natural world. Walden is the journal of his recovery of self-meaning and independence by his return to nature. x

31

Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is the greatest history written in the English language. Here, we look at Gibbon and his history as a statement of "a philosophical historian," who searches the past for laws to guide us in the future. x

32

Lord Acton, The History of Freedom

Though Acton never wrote his planned history of liberty, he left behind, in numerous essays and unpublished notes, a legacy of historical thought that remains a message of supreme importance to us today. x

33

Cicero, On Moral Duties (De Officiis)

On Moral Duties is one of the most influential works on education ever written, directly contradicting the view that might makes right and making clear that an immoral act can never be expedient. x

34

Gandhi, An Autobiography

By drawing on the traditions of Indian thought and reading the Bhagavad Gita daily, Gandhi makes his own path, focusing his entire life on a search for truth and teaching us that there are many roads to wisdom and victory. x

35

Churchill, My Early Life; Painting as a Pastime; WWII

Churchill might well be called the greatest figure in the 20th century. We look at three books by this Nobel Prize–winning author and find wisdom to guide us in drawing fundamental lessons for our own lives. x

36

Lessons from the Great Books

We review the lessons of the course and our definition of what makes a great book—a definition as true and vital today as it was in the age of Socrates and Cicero. x

Lecture Titles

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Ph.D. J. Rufus Fears

University of Oklahoma

Dr. J. Rufus Fears was David Ross Boyd Professor of Classics at the University of Oklahoma, where he held the G. T. and Libby Blankenship Chair in the History of Liberty. He also served as David and Ann Brown Distinguished Fellow of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs. He earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University. Before joining the faculty at the University of Oklahoma, Professor Fears was Professor of History and Distinguished Faculty Research Lecturer at Indiana University, and Professor of Classical Studies at Boston University. An acclaimed teacher and scholar with more than 25 awards for teaching excellence, Professor Fears was chosen Professor of the Year on three occasions by students at the University of Oklahoma. His other accolades included the Medal for Excellence in College and University Teaching from the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, the University Continuing Education Association (UCEA) Great Plains Region Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the UCEA's National Award for Teaching Excellence. Professor Fears's books and monographs include The Cult of Jupiter and Roman Imperial Ideology and The Theology of Victory at Rome. He edited a three-volume edition of Selected Writings of Lord Acton. His discussions of the Great Books have appeared in newspapers across the country and have aired on national television and radio programs. Professor Fears passed away in October 2012.

Reviews

Rated 3.8 out of 5 by 133
reviewers.

Rated 4 out of 5 by BobseyBelle Chewing the Scenery
I never thought I'd spend this much time learning about ancient classical literature. It never made any sense to me, but Professor Fears brings something to it that makes it fun and interesting. It is his sense of drama that captured my attention and made me look forward to the next lesson. Yes,he gets carried away at times, but I appreciate his effort to risk putting himself on stage in an effort to bring the story to life.. For sure, he is not boring. He is a wonderful storyteller.
I love the fact that he makes it clear what he feels is the principle of the story; what are the timeless questions and moral/ethical issues explored in the book. He explains the historical context of the setting and tells who the author is and how he fits into the culture of the time. He is very clear about the elements that make a book great and reminds us often how they apply to each book.
I thoroughly enjoyed his series on "The Lessons of History." I learned so much from them I decided to get another of his courses i'm not sorry I did.
October 8, 2014

Rated 1 out of 5 by PainterLee The worst course I have watched
I have watched about a dozen of the Great Courses and have never been disappointed before this.. If I could get my money back on this one I would.
Any person who would claim that the USA and the Roman Empire are the ONLY two super powers that the world has ever seen must be an idiot. He goes on to claim that the US and the Roman Empire are the only two empires that have been absolutely dominant militarily, economically, politically and culturally powers the world has seen.. To see such a man rise to such a position indeed says a great deal about the "culture" he has risen from.
August 28, 2014

Rated 2 out of 5 by Javier What about the books?
I have enjoyed Teaching Company courses for years but this one does not cut it. He speaks for half an hour on each book barely mentioning it. While I have read many (not all) the books he "discusses" I could not even recognise what his points were. I am a bit dissapointed.
August 2, 2014

Rated 1 out of 5 by sudoca Can't recommend this one.
This is the 11th great course I've listened to and the first one that I will not finish. Listening to Rufus Fears is like getting stuck at the holiday dinner table with a somewhat drunk, old uncle who holds you hostage at mouthpoint. I can not recommend any course by Rufus Fears.
February 3, 2014